Friday, August 13, 2004

Before I reveal my list from the 1970's, I will try to focus on the ones he did in the studio. As most know, he spent a good part of the time in concert. Good money generator (especially Col. Parker), but a lack of creativity of pure material.

The 1970's ListThe Wonder of You I've Lost YouThe Next Step Is LoveLifeI'm Leavin'Love Letters (1970)Cindy, CindyI'll Never KnowThis Is Our DanceJust PretendBurning LoveAlways on My MindFoolIt's ImpossibleThe First Time Ever I Saw Your FaceAn American Trilogy (Elvis On Tour/ Aloha From Hawaii versions preferred)Polk Salad AnnieUntil It's Time For You To GoSylviaMy BoyAnd I Love You SoThinking About YouYou Asked Me ToHurtMoody BlueMy WayMary In The MorningTwenty Days And Twenty NightsIf You Don't Come BackSweet AngelineGirl Of MineI Got A Feelin' In My BodyA Thing Called Love

Post-1977The Elvis Medley (1982)A Little Less Conversation (2002)Rubberneckin' (2003)I'm A Roustabout (originally recorded in 1964)
Final wordsThis is not all of them, just blurting on my part. Not bad, is it? I did not include, for the most part, his gospel or christmas music because they are almost a given by fans and non-fans alike.

I am not the world's biggest Elvis expert, but I can answer almost any questions that you may have. Your best shot of getting the information you might need is Rockin' Ron Cade, host of the "Elvis and Friends Radio Show", heard every Sunday morning from 7-10 AM on 98.1, WOGL-FM, in Philadelphia. You can go to www.wogl.com to e-mail him. It is a great station to listen to.

I will share more Elvis stuff , as time allows me. As Elvis would say, "Thank you, you're a beautiful audience. Thank you very much."

In this one, I will reveal some of my favorite Elvis songs. Other than being chronologic by when the songs were recorded, it is no particular order. I hope that there are some of your favorites here, too. Enjoy!

The 1950's List

That's All RightI Love You BecauseBlue Moon of KentuckyBlue MoonBaby Let's Play HouseI'm Left, You're right, She's GoneMystery TrainI Got A WomanHeartbreak Hotel Money HoneyMy Baby Left MeHound Dog/Don't Be CruelParalyzedRip It UpHave I told You Lately That I Love YouI Beg of YouJailhouse Rock/Treat Me NiceHard Headed WomanLover DollA Big Hunk O' LoveI Got StungI Need Your Love TonightThe 1960's ListStuck On You/ Fame and FortuneIt Feels So RightIt's Now or NeverI Gotta KnowSuch A NightSurrenderI'm Coming HomeStarting TodayJudy (to put a smile on the face of Joyce's sister)
That's Someone You Never ForgetHis Latest Flame/Little SisterYou'll Be GoneGonna Get Back Home SomehowFountain of LoveNever EndingLove Me TonightTomorrow Night (1965)Slowly But SurelyGuitar Man/What'd I Say (1968 & 1981)MineWearin' That Loved On LookMemoriesIf I Can Dream/Edge of RealityYou'll Never Walk AloneAlmost In LovePower of My LoveGentle On My MindOnly the Strong SurviveI'm Movin' OnHey, JudeAnd the Grass Won't Pay No MindInherit The WindKentucky RainSuspicious Minds/You'll Think Of MeI will place my 1970's list as the next entry. TO BE CONTINUED...

Thursday, August 12, 2004

With Elvis International Tribute Week "Beyond the Bend", I figured that I would tell my story on how I became a fan of "The King of Rock n' Roll".

Growing up, I was used to hearing staples such as "Love Me Tender' and "Suspicious Minds". My parents, primarily my father, grew up to his music. He had quite a few of his early record albums, which are currently at my brother's house. i hope that I will be able to play them again, someday.

It was early 1988, when the family was on our way home from somewhere on a Sunday morning. they had on 98.1 on the radio, which was now playing oldies. On the radio was a program that played Elvis Presley's music. It was not just playing the songs that I knew, but rare ones and outtakes. I believe that it was a complete studio outtake of the song, "Judy", that made me head do another double-take. Even to this day, his version of "Hound Dog" is still cool to listen to.

When we got home, I eventually asked my father about some of those songs i heard. He told me what he could, and I started to listen to some of the Elvis records in his collection. I also began to listen to that radio show on a regular basis, when I could. As a result, I have became a big fan of his music. The radio show that I am referring to is the "Elvis and FriendsRadio Show", hosted by rockin' Ron Cade. The show has now been a twenty-seven year, Philadelphia radio tradition.

Monday, August 09, 2004

Selective memory
It's not easy to tease out the truth of Sen. John Kerry's much-ballyhooed Vietnam tour. But some try.

"Pity the poor guy who has to reach back 35 years to show America just how great he is. And he does so very selectively," writes San Francisco Chronicle op-ed writer Adam Sparks.

"There's no mention of all his medal ribbons tossed with contempt over the White House fence for the same war he now fondly remembers. He brought a cast of sailors out with him on the convention podium and keeps a contingent with him at all times while campaigning, either to show Americans just how patriotic he is or to remind us incessantly that he served a grueling four months in Vietnam. For whatever reason, it's pathetic.

"The peaceniks know all about his antiwar theatrics; he needn't highlight those attributes. He's now going after the swing voter who respects America military strength ... . In Kerry's world, you really can be all things to all people."

Mr. Sparks noted that retired Rear Adm. Roy Hoffmann, who ran the swift boat campaign in Vietnam, said: "Only one of his 23 fellow officers in charge from Coastal Division 11 supports John Kerry. Overall, more than 250 swift boat veterans are on the record questioning Kerry's fitness to serve as commander in chief. That list includes ... every single officer Kerry served under in Vietnam."

Source: Washington Times Inside The Beltway by John McCaslin August 9, 2004

Green Bush
George W. Bush the "conservation" president?

That's what representatives from the nation's leading conservation groups say after Mr. Bush last week revealed plans for new initiatives developed to help protect wildlife, water and land resources.

"The Conservation Reserve Program has increased enrollment by 2.6 million acres since the president signed the 2002 Farm Bill," said Wisconsin resident Craig Johnson, treasurer of the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, following last week's meeting between Mr. Bush, conservationists and farmers in Le Sueur, Minn.

A total of 34.8 million acres of "environmentally sensitive" lands have been protected since Mr. Bush signed the bill, he said.

The president last week also announced an additional 800,000 acres under federal protection and directed Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman to offer early re-enrollment and contract extensions to secure land-conservation benefits.

'Why Are We in Iraq?'
Meet Norman Mailer, Third Cousin of the Rational Op-Ed.

BY DENNIS MILLER
Monday, May 5, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT

"With their dominance in sport, at work and at home eroded, Bush thought white American men needed to know they were still good at something. That's where Iraq came in. . . .

"The great white stars of yesteryear were for the most part gone, gone in football, in basketball, in boxing, and half-gone in baseball. . . . On the other hand, the good white American male still had the Armed Forces."--Norman Mailer, writing in the London Times' op-ed page last week

When The Wall Street Journal asked me to react to Mr. Mailer's latest daft screed, I almost took a pass. I've never written an opinion piece for a newspaper before, and furthermore I know as much about Norman Mailer as I do about Mary Quant. I think they were both kinda hot for a few minutes in the '60s.

Other than a vague recollection that Mr. Mailer once played Boswell to Jack Henry Abbott's Samuel Johnson, I really only remember one other pertinent fact about him. But, what the heck, if you're going to take a stab at something new, why not take a stab at it with Norman Mailer.

Mr. Mailer was the Father of the Nonfiction Novel and now he can also claim lineage as the distant, addled Third Cousin of the Rational Op-Ed. Studying at the Sorbonne as a young man obviously made a deep impression on him because this thing reads like Jacques Chirac's Dream Journal.

With six marriages under his belt, one would assume Mr. Mailer has a stranglehold on warfare. One would be wrong.

His basic contention is that we went to war with Iraq because with the dominance of white American men in the boxing ring, the office and the home front eroded, George W. Bush thought they needed to know they were still good at something. Mr. Mailer has a degree in aeronautical engineering from Harvard so he had to know that argument wouldn't fly. But then again, maybe this claptrap is just a grand put-on. The fact that I and many others can't differentiate anymore does not augur well for Norm's legend.

You know something, the only "race" that really occurred to me during the war was our Army's sprint to Baghdad. Conversely, Mr. Mailer appears to see just race in our armed forces, right down to the "Super-Marines," as he calls them. It seems that Mr. Mailer notices color in people even when they're wearing camouflage. He then goes on to speak about racial subsets in the world of sports. Now, when I watch baseball, football and basketball, I see uniforms and skills. Mr. Mailer evidently sees races and nationalities. He's like a Casey Stengel/William Shockley hybrid. "Why'd you send the rook' back to Triple A, Skip?" "Well, he was gettin' around on the fast ball but he still couldn't hit the bell curve."

Ironically, Mr. Mailer seems to see everything in the world in terms of black and white, except of course, good and evil.

He also fancies himself a boxer, a "champeen," but stuff like this will just sully his record. He's now a club fighter, a pug, a tomato can that Warhol no doubt gave him. He constantly uses boxing metaphors and yet refuses to give President Sugar Ray Bush any credit for his startling TWKO (Three-Week Knock Out).

A guy like Mailer hates a guy like Bush because Mailer thinks of himself as infinitely smarter than Bush and yet President Bush is the most powerful man on the planet and old Normy's connecting through Atlanta and flying on prop planes to a community college that's so far out in the sticks the mail rider has yet to arrive with the message that The Great Mailer is currently more out of the loupe than a jeweler with conjunctivitis. All so he can scoop up a submicroscopic honorarium and the accolades of star-struck locals and 18-year-olds who mistakenly think Mr. Mailer wrote "Gravity's Rainbow."

He feels there's no connection between the secular state of Iraq and radical fundamentalist terrorists. Not true. Abu Abbas was recently recaptured there after Europe practiced catch-and-release with him many years back. Abu Nidal was found shot to death last year in his Baghdad apartment. Police suspect fair play.

And while I don't want to appear to pick more nits than a father-and-son Spider Monkey team who know they're being followed by a National Geographic film crew, Mr. Mailer's wrong when he says that only one-half of our country was for the war: 70% is one-half only if the whole is considered to be 140%.

Mr. Mailer at one time challenged and provoked. Now he just provokes. Norman Mailer has become Norman Maine, a former matinee idol whom loved ones best keep an eye on, because if this is the best he can now muster, he'll no doubt be walking purposely into the surf off Provincetown any day now. And as Mr. Mailer's prostate gradually supplants his ego as the largest gland in his body, he's going to have to realize, as is the case with all young lions who inevitably morph into Bert Lahr, that his alleged profundities are now being perceived as the early predictors of dementia.

I empathize with Mr. Mailer in one regard, though. Although he's clearly abdicated the lucid throne, it must be hellish for someone who can still arrange words so beautifully--i.e., "the question will keen in pitch"--to wake up every morning and have it slowly dawn on him that he's effectively been rendered totally irrelevant.

Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!
Is the Senate ready for the Pied Piper of Bottom Feeders?

BY DENNIS MILLER
Saturday, July 19, 2003 12:01 a.m. EDT

Well, Jerry Springer is mulling over a run for the Senate and John Adams is no doubt turning in his grave so furiously that if we could just hook up a turbine power cable to his headstone we would probably solve all our energy woes.

It's no secret that the gene pool, in addition to being a tad brackish as of late, is also so shallow now there doesn't even need to be a lifeguard on duty. Springer has stood astride that pool like a latter day Colossus Ignoramus of Rhodes for well over a decade now.

Now that's not to say I don't periodically find the "The Jerry Springer Show" intellectually stimulating. Indeed, how many times have I been walking through the parking lot of a laundromat and seen two obese women in halter tops slap fighting and thought, Wow . . . I wonder what the back story is on that?

But at this point, Springer would have to hire a team of sherpas to assist him on the long trek back up to the lowest common denominator. As a matter of fact, the last time I was channel surfing and stopped on the Springer show my channel flicker filed a restraining order against me.

The Pied Piper of Bottom Feeders, Ringmaster of the Cirque de Salieri, and now he's set his sights on Congress. Just think of it as Mr. Registers-at-Hourly-Rates-Hotels-Under-the-Name Smith Goes to Washington.

Well, one thing's for sure. Capitol Hill hasn't seen bouncers this big since the members of the House were kiting all that bad paper during the banking scandal of '92.

But is Jerry's pluck at the Grail really that aberrant a notion? His talk-show experience will at least allow him to commingle easily with his fellow senators, yet another studio audience of preening narcissists voracious for their 15 minutes but in truth needing an intermission to fill the time.

It's not like I think the Senate is a hallowed chamber where you have to be particularly smart to get in. To me, Congress is just a place where we send oft-times mediocre men and women to be Earl Scheibed into looking kinda, sorta, vaguely consequential.

There's also a geographical track record to consider here. The good citizens of Ohio in the past have seen fit to elect Jim Traficant to Congress and trust me, Traficant makes Springer look like Hammurabi.

So I'm torn. I can't decide if Springer is underqualified or overqualified. But here's My Final Thought. One thing I do like about Springer is that he always manages to convey that he's a wee bit sheepish about it all. Not sheepish enough to resist cashing the checks, mind you, but just enough to let you know that he'd like to settle up his societal karma deficit as he heads into the denouement of what has heretofore been a reasonably idiotic life.

Additionally, maybe if we one day glimpse C-Span and see Jerry Springer actually being sworn into the United States Senate it will shock us--like Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes" looking up and seeing the chimp on top of the pony--and trigger some much needed electoral reform. Say, an IQ Quizometer on the door of the voting booth where you have to get seven out of 10 current-events questions right before you're allowed in to cast your ballot. All right, settle down, liberals. Make that four out of 10.

Well, I have to go now. I'm cutting the ribbon this afternoon at the newly erected Morton Downey Jr. Memorial and Secretary of the Interior Wally George is picking me up in 15 minutes. "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!"

George Bush vs. the Naive Nine
Why this lifelong Democrat will vote Republican next November.

BY ZELL MILLER
Monday, November 3, 2003 12:01 a.m. EST

If I live and breathe, and if--as Hank Williams used to say--the creek don't rise, in 2004 this Democrat will do something I didn't do in 2000, I will vote for George W. Bush for president.

I have come to believe that George Bush is the right man in the right place at the right time. And that's a pretty big mouthful coming from a lifelong Democrat who first voted for Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and has voted for every Democratic presidential candidate the 12 cycles since then. My political history to the contrary, this was the easiest decision I think I've ever made in deciding who to support. For I believe the next five years will determine the kind of world my four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren will live in. I simply cannot entrust that crucial decision to any one of the current group of Democratic presidential candidates.

Why George Bush? First, the personal; then, the political.

I first got to know George Bush when we served as governors together, and I just plain like the man, a man who feeds his dogs first thing every morning, has Larry Gatlin sing in the White House, and knows what is meant by the term "hitting behind the runner."

I am moved by the reverence and tenderness he shows the first lady and the unabashed love he has for his parents and his daughters.

I admire this man of faith who has lived that line in that old hymn, "Amazing Grace," "Was blind, but now I see." I like the fact that he's the same on Saturday night as he is on Sunday morning. And I like a man who shows respect for others by starting meetings on time.

That's the personal. Now, the political.

This is a president who understands the price of freedom. He understands that leaders throughout history often have had to choose between good and evil, tyranny and freedom. And the choice they make can reverberate for generations to come. This is a president who has some Churchill in him and who does not flinch when the going gets tough. This is a president who can make a decision and does not suffer from "paralysis analysis." This is a president who can look America in the eye and say on Iraq, "We're not leaving." And you know he means it.

This is also a president who understands that tax cuts are not just something that all taxpayers deserve, but also the best way to curb government spending. It is the best kind of tax reform. If the money never reaches the table, Congress can't gobble it up.

I have just described George W. Bush.

Believe me, I looked hard at the other choices. And what I saw was that the Democratic candidates who want to be president in the worst way are running for office in the worst way. Look closely, there's not much difference among them. I can't say there's "not a dime's worth of difference" because there's actually billions of dollars' worth of difference among them. Some want to raise our taxes a trillion, while the others want to raise our taxes by several hundred billion. But, make no mistake, they all want to raise our taxes. They also, to varying degrees, want us to quit and get out of Iraq. They don't want us to stay the course in this fight between tyranny and freedom. This is our best chance to change the course of history in the Middle East. So I cannot vote for a candidate who wants us to cut and run with our shirttails at half-mast.

I find it hard to believe, but these naive nine have managed to combine the worst feature of the McGovern campaign--the president is a liar and we must have peace at any cost--with the worst feature of the Mondale campaign--watch your wallet, we're going to raise your taxes. George McGovern carried one state in 1972. Walter Mondale carried one state in 1984. Not exactly role models when it comes to how to get elected or, for that matter, how to run a country.

So, as I have said, my choice for president was an easy decision. And my own party's candidates made it even easier.

Mr. Miller is a Democratic senator from Georgia and the author of "A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat," published last month by Stroud & Hall.

Twelve years ago, I delivered one of the keynote addresses on the first night at the Democratic National Convention in New York. It was a stinging rebuke of the administration of George H.W. Bush and a ringing endorsement of Bill Clinton. This summer I'll again be speaking in New York, but it will be to the Republican Convention that renominates George W. Bush.

Many have asked how I could have come so far in just over a decade. Frankly, I don't think I've changed much at all. At 72, I don't feel much need to change my opinions. Instead, the reason I didn't attend the Democratic Convention in Boston is that I barely recognize my party anymore. Most of its leaders--including our nominee, John Kerry--don't hold the same beliefs that have motivated my career in public service.

In 1992, I spoke of the opportunity and hope that allowed me, the son of a single mother growing up in the North Georgia mountains, to become my state's governor. And I attributed much of my success to the great Democratic presidents of years gone by--FDR (a hallowed man in my home), Truman and JFK. The link these men shared was a commitment to helping Americans born into any condition rise to achieve whatever goal they set for themselves.

I spoke of Americans who were "tired of paying more in taxes and getting less in services." I excoriated Republicans who "dealt in cynicism and skepticism." I accused them of mastering "the art of division and diversion." And I praised Bill Clinton as a moderate Democrat "who has the courage to tell some of those liberals who think welfare should continue forever, and some of those conservatives who think there should be no welfare at all, that they're both wrong."

Bill Clinton did deliver on welfare reform, after a lot of prodding from the Republicans who took hold of Congress in 1995. But much of the rest of the promise I saw in his candidacy withered during his two terms in office.

Today, it's the Democratic Party that has mastered the art of division and diversion. To run for president as a Democrat these days you have to go from interest group to interest group, cap in hand, asking for the support of liberal kingmakers. Mr. Kerry is no different. After Hollywood elites profaned the president, he didn't have the courage to put them in their place. Instead, he validated their remarks, claiming that they represent "the heart and soul of America."

No longer the party of hope, today's Democratic Party has become Mr. Kerry's many mansions of cynicism and skepticism. As our economy continues to get better and businesses add jobs, Mr. Kerry's going around America trying to convince people that the roof is about to cave in. He talks about "the misery index" and the Depression. What does he know about either?

And when it comes to taxes and services, you'd be pressed to find anyone more opposed to the interests of middle-class Americans than John Kerry. Except maybe John Edwards. Both voted against tax relief for married couples, tax relief for families with children, and tax relief for small businesses. Now Mr. Kerry wants to raise taxes on hundreds of thousands of small-business owners and millions of individuals. He claims to be for working people, but I don't understand how small businesses can create jobs if they've got to send more money to Washington instead of keeping it to hire workers.

Worst of all, Sens. Kerry and Edwards have not kept faith with the men and women who are fighting the war on terror--most of whom come from small towns and middle-class families all over America. While Mr. Bush has stood by our troops every step of the way, Messrs. Kerry and Edwards voted to send our troops to war and then voted against the money to give them supplies and equipment--not to mention better benefits for their families. And recently Mr. Kerry even said he's proud of that vote. Proud to abandon our troops when they're out in the field? I can hear Harry Truman cussing from his grave.

I still believe in hope and opportunity and, when it comes right down to it, Mr. Bush is the man who represents hope and opportunity. Hope for a safer world. And opportunity for Americans to work hard, keep more of the money they earn, and send their kids to good schools. All the speeches we heard this week weren't able to hide the truth of what today's Democratic Party has become: an enclave of elites paying lip service to middle-class values. Americans looking for a president who understands their struggles and their dreams should tune in next month, when we celebrate the leadership of George W. Bush.

Hi everyone,
For the next few postings that I contribute to the weblog, I will focus my energy towards my favorite singer, Elvis Presley. I would like to start my tribute to "The King" a little early. I will leave the political stuff to Joyce, for now.

If you want to check out a few Elvis-related websites, I will list a few.:

www.elvis.com - I usually get a newsletter from them weekly, talking about his movies, music, and other things.

www.dougchurchusa.com - This is the website of Doug Church, one of the top Elvis Tribute Artists in the world! I saw him perform, and he is awesome! My dad and stepmother saw him recently, and liked him very much. Be sure to check him out if he is in your neighborhood!

www.memphismemoriesproductions.com - This is the website of Rockin' Ron Cade, host of "The Elvis and Friends Radio Show", a twenty-six year Philadelphia radio tradition. It can be heard on WOGL-FM (98.1) in Philadelphia, from 7-10 AM on Sunday mornings. (In my opinion, his show should be syndicated nationally!)